The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for April, 2006

April 30, 2006

For those of you disillusioned with the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin like me, it sometimes is helpful to remember what the DemocRAT Party of Wisconsin platform is. They’re brutally-honest in their belief that government must continue to grow faster than our ability to pay for it, and that taxes need to grow to match. Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson (D-Madison) articulates it so well in her Friday e-mail newsletter. That e-mail lends itself so well to fisking, I almost wish I had the whole thing instead of the part reprinted by Owen.

Dear Friend:

STOP THE TAPE! I’m surprised she isn’t using “Comrade” in her e-mails; it would fit so much better.

The good news in the Legislature this week was that the Republicans did not have enough votes to pass the original Taxpayer Deception Amendment in the Assembly.

I see the ‘Rats are honest about their belief that we don’t pay enough taxes, at least when they’re not up for re-election.

The bad news is that they mustered enough votes to pass a modified version of the amendment, one which writes rigid limits on state revenue growth into the constitution.

What does that mean for you and me? It means a huge shift in taxes to the property tax. Because the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, the state will have to find places to scale back spending, and a prime target is state aid to communities and counties.

Allow me to explain something. Shifting the responsibility of raising the money to the entity that spends it will necessarily reduce the tax burden. First, it exposes just how much that entity is spending. Second, it costs money to transfer money from one government unit to another, even when it isn’t skimmed off illicitly. Once again, thank you ‘Rats for being honest in your belief that taxes aren’t too high and government isn’t too big.

As for the claim that the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, thanks again, ‘Rats, for admitting your belief that a 5.13% growth in government just isn’t enough. Who here has had income growth average 5.13% lately?

Round 2 – Greg Jennings, Daryn Colledge – As things stand now, I would rather have not traded down and taken Chad Jackson. Of course, if they get a diamond in the rough with that extra 6th-round pick, I reserve the right to change my mind.. I would’ve liked Jackson instead of Jennings straight-up, but it was a 3rd-rounder instead of a 6th-rounder they got, and I like Spitz. I guess they’re looking at moving either Clifton or Tauscher inside, because Colledge would be a far better fit at tackle than guard (he’s simply too undersized to play inside).

Round 3 – Abdul Hodge, Jason Spitz – The linebacking corp is set for 2006 and beyond with Hodge, Hawk and Barnett. Spitz looks to be a nasty guard.

My overall take – I actually like this draft so far. Thompson’s been so busy with the trades, nobody kept it straight yesterday.

April 28, 2006

Let’s see what else happened the 2+ weeks I semi-voluntatily took off:

All 3 cops charged in the beating of Frank Jude got off scot-free. There goes E. Michael McCan’t’s perfect record in jury trials. Guess he overestimated the intelligence of the jury in bringing up cop after cop who obeyed the police version of “No Snitchin'”. US Attorney Steve “Hang’em” Biskupic quickly convened a federal investigation. Who wants to bet that if Tom Schneider were the US Attorney instead of Biskupic, half of Milwaukee would have been a charred ruin by now?

Despite a recommendation from McCan’t’s office that the Milwaukee 4 get only probation for willfully attempting to fix the 2004 Presidential election, the judge gave all 4 moderate Huber law sentences. Predictably, the black “leaders” cried racism, despite the fact that 1 of the 4 is white.

Speaking of racism, don’t you dare accuse Barbara Boxer (the local one, not the one from Kalifornica) of it, despite the fact her group barred 2 men, one of them black, from a womens-only conference on racism, and her defense that she’s allowed to do that because she’s a caring lieberal broad.

Matt Kenseth got the points lead in NASCAR Nextel Cup, lost it, and got it back again. Beware the Bees this year.

After a nice, hot start, the Brew Crew fell apart. UNNNNGGGGHHH!!!!!!

Incredibly, the emasculated Milwaukee County “Ethics” Board found a new special prosecutor to pursue a slimmed-down case against the ethically-challenged County Board chair Lee “Thug” Holloway.

Aaron got halfway off the oft-derailed Blogger train. He’s still using the Blogger software, but he does have his own site (the link’s fixed over on the right). Come on, Aaron. WordPress is a LOT more flexible, and it is as easy to use as Blogger.

The invaders continue to make a lot of noise even as they get closer to getting amnesty without border controls.

As a public service for those of you living in a cave the last few days, Brett Favre announced that he will be back in the Green and Gold for one last season (deeply-saddening Wile E. Thompson, mud, and causing sports programming execs at Fox, NBC, Disney and the NFL to say, “Hallelujah!”). Not coincidentally, the following day, Charles Woodson, the best cornerback on the free-agent market, agreed to come to Green Bay for 7 years. Now all eyes are on the draft tomorrow, where the Packers are scheduled to pick 5th.

If Thompson doesn’t screw this up royally (either by now trading Favre trying to recreate Hersheal Walker or taking somebody other than the likes of AJ Hawk or Vernon Davis), I can actually see the Packers threatening to hit .500 and be in contention for the NFC North crown. If that’s the case, I’ll stop the Wile E. Coyote references.

Sorry about being absent the last few weeks. First, taxes got me, then allergy season kicked off with a bang. I think I finally stocked up on enough FIB pseudophedrine to see me through, though. In honor of the resounding “FUCK YOU!” delivered to us taxpayers by the RepubicRATs and RINOs of the Assembly, I have assembled a photo album of sorts. Remember these faces. Remember these names. Remember them well, especially on September 12.

First up, the RepubicRATs who can’t even stand a weak spending limit on just state gubmint: Joan Ballweg Robin Kreibich Terri McCormick (who was hoping that the “R”PW would now back her with her true lieberal colors flying) Lee Nerison Alvin Ott Jerry Petrowski
Next, the RINOs who think that local taxes aren’t high enough: John Ainsworth Sheryl Albers Brett Davis Stephen FreeseCurt Gielow Eugene Hahn J.A. Hines Judy KrawczykAndy Lamb Gabe LoeffelholzTerry Moulton Jeffrey Moursau Terry Musser Carol Owens Mark L. Pettis Debi Towns John F. Townsend Gregg Underheim Karl Van Roy David Ward Steve Wieckert
Revisions/extensions: After reading Owen’s comments on the disaster that happened, I took Frank Lasee, Stephen Nass and Leah Vukmir off the rogues gallery. They recognized faster than I did what a complete disaster the WTRA (I’ll let you figure out what the “R” stands for – hint, it’s a 4-letter word) has become.

April 8, 2006

For those of you who can’t or won’t tune into your local TV or radio station to listen to the Brett Favre news conference at 7:30 am CDT in Mississippi (confirmed in Milwaukee – WTMJ-AM, WISN-AM and Channels 4, 6 and 12, and one of the ESPN family, likely ESPNews), I’ll bring it for you. The current odds in Vegas:

2-5 – He retires
9-1 – He’s back 1 more year
50-1 – He says, “Wile E. Thompson really is a suuuuuper genius.”

Today’s Journal Sentinel finally highlightsFred’s instrumental role in the resignation of former Racine County Democrat Party Chair Kurt Vlach, but it still manages to miss the target. Let’s take this 2-paragraph extract as an example:

He used unnamed sources. He posted lewd photos. He let his opinion be known about what he believed was the unethical and unprincipled behavior of the Racine County Democratic Party chairman.

He used tools that most mainstream media steer away from, but that bloggers are now using with gusto.

Let’s take the CBS-led attempt to unseat President Bush in 2004. They used unnamed sources. They created false documents and presented them as legitimate. They let their opinions be known about what they believe to be the true enemy of America. I guess that “tools” sentence should undergo a ReWrite™ – He used tools that most mainstreamleft stream media steer away from unless targeting either Republicans or conservatives, but that bloggers are now using with gusto.

Similarily, the Journtinel decided to highlight only a portion of a quote from Steve Outing, a columnist with Editor and Publisher and himself a blogger, to make his words fit their anti-blogger agenda. Here is the full quote, with the part you missed if you didn’t read the whole story emphasized – “”Bloggers don’t have to operate by the same rules and can publish stuff that professional journalists say is just gossip. Later, what was dismissed as gossip really did turn out to be a legitimate story.” Oh, where did we see this before? It was Matt Drudge’s exposing of Newsweek‘s decision to spike the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski story.

Despite the anti-blogger bias I highlighted, the article is a good read. We “barbarians” are already beyond the gates. Not all of us may break stories like Fred, but we’ll hold everybody’s feet to the fire.

April 7, 2006

A day after No-Ethics Milwaukee County Board Chair Lee “Thug” Holloway got 4 of his cronies to starve the County Ethics Board of funding into the continuing prosecution of a 90-count indictment against him in the Finance Committee on an allegiance-line vote, the chair and vice-chair of the Ethics Board, John C. Carter and Maria Monreal Cameron, resigned in protest. Charlie has a mid-morning interview with Carter, a mid-morning interview with supervisor Roger Quindel (whose violent replacement on the Finance Committee allowed Thug Holloway to get away with this), and the text of the resignation letters over at Sykes Writes. Also, Brian Fraley has the best collection of Thug Holloway news and commentary around.

However, there is one more shot to keep this investigation alive. Our friends at Citizens for Responsible Government have announced a rally and fundraiser to continue the investigation into Holloway to happen at 6 pm Wednesday, April 12, at Serb Hall (S. 51st St. and W. Oklahoma Ave. in Milwaukee). They will have additional details at a press conference on Sunday, April 9, outside the County Courthouse. I’ll keep you posted.

It seems a few “interesting” things happened while I was taking an unplanned/unannounced “break”. Let’s see if I can come up with coherent, semi-fresh thoughts on a couple of them:

The Russians have been VERY bad actors on the world stage of late. They’ve sealed a deal to send helicopters to Venezuela, and it appears they gave Iran the Shkval underwater rocket. Leftists everywhere are wondering when Comrade Vladimir Putin announces the return of the name “Soviet Union”, and they’re hoping it is soon.

The DOT announced that it has a funding “crisis”. This is despite some of the highest gas taxes in the country, and a surplus so high that Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) and the RepublicRATs in the Legislature raided the fund to the tune of $485 million. The Journtinel, predictably, called on less spending on roads and more and more taxes before lamely saying that the fund shouldn’t be raided any more. I humbly suggest that if one stopped raiding the transportation fund (and others) for the benefit of WEAC and stopped subsidizing the tranportation of air via bus in this state, we’ll have more than enough money to keep on building 4-lane divided bypasses of every UpNorth hamlet.

Hurray Beer! The Brew Crew is 3-0. It may have been 3 ugly victories against a subpar team, but it’s the best start in a decade. 9 more, and we’ve got free burgers from Webb’s. I just hope it isn’t raining like the day they gave the burgers away in 1987.

Speaking of the Brew Crew, I took advantage of the fact that the Brewers are giving those of us suckers in the 5-county taxing area a break on ticket prices, and made my first visit to Miller Park since 2001 Wednesday night. Talk about sticker shock; $6 for a beer? $4 for a brat? Damn but that’s expensive. The panini available at the stand by Friday’s is a decent buy at $6.75 though.

The Lieberals had a big day Tuesday. They (barely) kept Dick Bolender in office as mayor, scored an upset in Waukesha as conservatives stayed home, and got their headline as 24 of 32 mostly-cherry-picked communities approved anti-war referrenda. Of course, if you removed the lieberal bastions of Madistan, La Crosse and Shorewood, as many people voted against the pull-out refferenda as voted for it.

Some UWM students want to change the name of the university to Wisconsin State University. No word on whether the owners of Wisconsin Skate University will sue for copyright infringement.

There’s a few more items that warrant their own posts, so I’ll be doing that.